The Circle of Life

Alan Landros is a wealth of information, especially regarding Burbank folks, and today, he copied me on an email he sent to Mary & Janet Ogle which is below. Thanks Alan and if you can get that photo scanned of your high school Latin club party, I'd love to post it!

Subject: Re: Mother's Passing

Hi Mary and Janet,

I've emailed several times this year with Mary, first about Nancy's 1968 Nixon paper dress, hoping to get it for the BHS Centennial display, then about my friend, Paul Nelson, who was with your dad in the '36 Hoover class and in Track together with him.

Then I saw Janet at the Centennial and got to visit briefly with her at BJ's Brewery on the Saturday night of the Centennial. I think I mentioned to both of you that I was in the '70 BHS class, between John and Nancy. I knew of John in Cross Country and Track, since I was Kallem and Kemp's Manager all three years I was at BHS. I was in Latin class and Latin Club with Nancy for two years, and one of my fond memories of the club was a Latin Christmas party in the basement of your home at Bel Aire and Elmwood. I still have the pictures from that party, where we were all wearing togas, including Mr. Loughnane, our teacher! I wrote about that party in my "interview" on the BHS Centennial website. I am a friend of Carl and Kathy Au Crosier from Hawaii, and Kathy told me what a delightful time they had sitting with Janet and Mark at the '68 reunion! (In case Janet purchased a Centennial book, I wrote three of the stories in the book; about Genevieve Sultenfuss '28 on page 15; about Greg Robinson '69 on page 103; and about myself and Blyden Loutensock '70 on page 104.)

I have followed the Ogle Family news over the last months through Cathy Palmer's blog. What a service she does for us all, regardless of our class year! I was so very sad to read of your mother's recent passing, and surprised that she went sooo fast, after her troubles became evident only two to three months earlier! I'm sure even with your very large family it is still quite hard to have to say good-bye to one loved so much! I lost my mother in 1985 at age 65, and my dad in 1999 at age 80. It still makes me sad that I didn't have them in my life longer than I did. Next week would have been my mother's 89th birthday, and November 13 would have been my dad's 90th birthday. Hard for me to think of them as that old! My dad was just two months younger than Paul Nelson, who turned 90 on September 12.

I have printed out Mary's messages regarding Paul Nelson, which I will give to him the next time I see him. He is planning to come up here, (Santa Clarita), to see me sometime next week from Glendale. I will give him your dad's address and phone number in Santa Cruz. Also, I printed out the photo of your folks taken in 2006 to give to Paul. I am not driving yet, or going out except to medical appointments at UCLA, where my kidney transplant surgery was done on September 24. That's why Paul is coming here to see me. Perhaps you've seen some of the coverage of the surgery on Cathy's blog. You may remember my donor's father, Coach Jack Loutensock, at BHS. He was the Varsity Basketball Coach while we were all there. He also taught Science. My donor, Blyden Loutensock, and I first met while in the same 5th grade class at Thomas Jefferson School in Burbank, in the fall of 1962, when the Loutensock's moved to Burbank from the Valley. We were together in the same 6th grade class, too, and then John Muir and BHS together. The idea of the kidney transplant has been totally Blyden's idea all along. I feel very fortunate, and definitely blessed!

I'm hoping Paul Nelson will phone your dad to visit, since he has been through losing his spouse twice in the last 5 1/2 years. Between those losses, Paul's son, Joe, died in 2005 from cancer, (he was Glendale High '68 - born in 1950). Paul and his first wife, Pam, were married for 60 1/2 years, just like your folks. Pam died in 2002 exactly two months before her 80th birthday on November 30. They have a daughter, now 62, and son-in-law, with no children. Paul and Pam also had Joe, who had two sons, now 28 and 30, who both live in Wisconsin, Neither are married yet, so there are no great-grandchildren yet, either. Paul remarried in 2005 to Marilyn Moon Sullivan, Hoover High '39.

They first met in 1939 through Paul's first wife, Pam. Marilyn was widowed in 2003. Paul and Marilyn were married for 3 years and 3 months when Marilyn died on May 24 of this year, only 10 days after their return from a trip around the Mediterranean, including Greece, Turkey, Cypress, Israel, Egypt, and more. So, her death was rather sudden. October 6, the day your mother passed away, would have been Marilyn's 86th birthday. She and her first husband only have one daughter, who has a daughter and a son, both married now. The granddaughter gave birth to her first child, a boy, last week on Marilyn's birthday, October 6! The "circle of life" continues! So, Marilyn's first great-grandchild was born after she was gone, although she knew he was coming, and that he was a boy! Anyway, Paul lost Pam in 2002, Joe in 2005, and now Marilyn in 2008. Perhaps he may be of some small comfort to your dad during this time.

I'd best close for now. My sympathy goes to you both, as to your dad, and the entire Ogle Family.

Alan Landros

The '67 Bulldogs basketball team with Coach Loutensock at the helm!
(click photo to enlarge)